By Yange Ikyaa
Although Nigeria remains Africa’s largest economy, oil producer and the most populous country on the continent, with over 200 million inhabitants, Algeria has beaten the West African nation on the basis of rig count in their respective oil and gas industries.
Algeria, which is a nation of about 45 million people emerged as the top African country with a rig count of 382, in 2022, while Nigeria’s rig count stood at 114 in 2022 in the same year, increasing by 15.2 percent from 99 in the previous year.
This is according to data obtained from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as contained in its Monthly Oil Market Reports, which also show that Equatorial Guinea was the least active in upstream petroleum activities on the African continent, with only four rigs in 2022.